Mobile apparatus for salvaging underground and overhead cable

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and method is provided for salvaging underground and overhead electrical cable. The apparatus of this invention includes a mobile platform such as a truck on which there is mounted an adjustable cable guide which guides the cable to a cable puller which draws the cable from either an underground conduit or from overhead installation. The cable is then fed to a cable cutter which is synchronized with the rate of feed of the cable so as to cut the cable into predetermined lengths. The cut lengths of the cable are then fed to a truck or the like and hauled away to a smelter for recovery of the metal.

o United States Patent [1 1 [111 3,736,822 McVaugh [4 1 June 5, 1973 541MOBILE APPARATUS FOR 3,686,989 8/1970 Dreher ..s3/32o SALVAGINGUNDERGROUND AND OVERHEAD CABLE Primary Examiner-Andrew R. Juhasz sistant iaq i rril p S m [76] Inventor 3; Mcvaugh Box Vern"Attorney-Henry N. Paul, Jr., John H. Austin and J. Walter Schilpp et al.[22] Filed: June 14, 1971 v a, [21] Appl. No.: 152,697 [57] ABSTRACT Anapparatus and method is provided for salvaging underground and overheadelectrical cable. The ap- [52] US. Cl. ..83/l55, 8832592203, 8834793268,params of this invention includes a mobile platform 51 I t Cl B26d U08such as a truck on which there is mounted an adjustai 320 155 ble cableguide which guides the cable to a cable o 2 ;gy'ib' ia 1 4 puller whichdraws the cable from either an un- 134 1 derground conduit or fromoverhead installation. The cable is then fed to a cable cutter which is5 R f C} d synchronized with therate of feed of the cable so as toeerences cut the cable into predetermined lengths. The cut UNITED STATESPATENTS lengths of the cable are then fed to a truck or the like 3 244292 4/1969 E" 254N343FTX and hauled away to a smelter for recovery ofthe lOt ml 3,490,665 l/l970 Johnson ..226/193 X me 5 Claims, 13 DrawingFigures EAHINTEDJUH 5 I975 3. 73 6. 822

INVENTOR.

Arthur K. Mcvough BY MVPM ATTORNEYS- PATENTEUJUH 5 ms SHEET 2 UF 53.736. 822

/ INVENTOR.

/ Arthur K. Mcvough PATENTEDJUH 5192s 3.736822 SHEET 3 UF 5 INVENTOR.Arthur K. Mcvough aw? ML- AT I'ORNEYS PATENTEDJUH 5 I975 SHEET 0F 5INVENTOR.

ArThur K Mcvough W ATTORNEYS.

PATENTEDJUH 5197s 3.736.822

SHEET S []F 5 INVENTOR. Arthur K. McVough AT TURN! Y) MOBILE APPARATUSFOR SALVAGING UNDERGROUND AND OVERHEAD CABLE BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention is concerned with anapparatus for salvaging underground or overhead electrical cable.

2. Description of the Prior Art Public utilities use large amounts ofunderground electrical cable and to some extent, overhead cable.Electrical power companies use large underground cable for transmissionof electricity from the power houses to substations and eventuallytransformers for use in homes and industries. Other public utilitiesalso use large amounts of underground cable such as telephone companies,telegraph companies, railroads, and subway systems. Furthermore, in mostcities there are separate communication systems for police and firedepartments that utilize underground cables for transmission of messagesas well as for transmission of signals to control traffic lights and thelike.

The installation of electrical cables under the ground has manyadvantages. The cables, in general, last considerably longer since theyare not exposed to the adverse effects of the normal weather and are notsubjected to adverse weather conditions such as lightning and windstorms or damage caused by automobile accidents.

When installing underground cable, the standard procedure is toinitially install a conduit system. The conduit systems usually consistof tubular masonary materials such as concrete pipe, teracotta pipe orthe like. The conduit is installed and buried underground. Conduit isgenerally installed in sealed units which are about one city block inlength, that is, about 500 to 800 feet. The conduit opens at both endsinto a manhole which is usually located in the street near anintersection.

When installing new cable in newly installed conduit, the cable is drawnthrough the conduit from the manhole with a winch or the like. If theconduit is sufficiently large, there is relatively little resistance tothe I passage of the cable through the conduit. This process, however,is still relatively slow because of the rather heavy weight of thelengths of the cable employed.

As is well known to those skilled in the art, underground cable does notlast indefinitely, and must be periodically replaced. The insulation onthe cable deteriorates, and the copper of which most cables are made,become corroded, which adversely affect the transmission of electricity.Unlike installing new cable in new conduit, the removal of the old cablefrom the conduit can be quite difficult and costly. The cable, being 0onsiderably older is weaker and is more likely to rupture inside theconduit. Furthermore, the dirt which inherently accumulated in theconduit after many years can almost cement the cable to the walls of theconduit. A

still further problem encountered in removing old cable from conduit isthat often, the conduit has cracked, and tree roots have grown into theconduit and about the cable making it extremely difficult to remove thecable from the conduit. Accordingly, heretofore, removing and recoveringthe old cable was often quite difficult and costly from a laborstandpoint.

The scrap value of the cable once it is recovered, is quite high becauseof the large amounts of copper, lead, and other metals in the cable. Itis not unusual, for

example, for each foot of cable to contain over ten pounds of copper.However, the cost of salvaging the cable generally is so high that ifthe conduit is large enough to hold both the old cable and the newcable, it is not unusual to simply cut off the old cable and abandon itin the conduit and then install the new cable beside the old cable inthe conduit. This practice, however, is of course limited by the size ofthe conduit. The conduit once filled with old abandoned cable has to bestripped in order to install new cable.

One method which is commonly used to remove cable from undergroundconduit is to position a winch above the manholes at the two ends of thecable and then gradually pull the cable back and forth until it fi;nally loosened somewhat and can be pulled from one of the manholes. Thiscable is then wound directly on an empty cable reel. These reels oncefilled up with scrap cable then have to be picked up with specialapparatus and hauled to the scrap yard. At the scrap yard, the cable isthen unwound from the reel and sheared into suitable lengths for thepurpose of smelting to recover the copper and other metals in the cable.

A still further process which has been heretofore suggested is tointermittantly pull a predetermined length of cable with a winch likeapparatus. The winch is then stopped and the cable is cut into shortlengths. This procedure is repeated until all of the cable is removedfrom the conduit. The above described procedure is highly unsatisfactoryin actual practice. The amount of force required to start the cable onceat rest is quite substantial. This can be readily appreciated from thefact that it is not unusual to have to pull a length of cable 500-800feet long, which is the distance between two manholes. The cable mayweigh anywhere between 10 and 15 pounds per foot. Accordingly, the winchis required to intermittently start a length of cable from a staticposition which may weigh between 5,000 and 12,000 pounds. The apparatusused in this procedure is therefore periodically subjected to aconsiderable amount of force. As can be readily appreciated, thenecessity of intermittantly starting a length of cable which initiallyweighs between 5,000 and 12,000 pounds creates a considerable amount ofstrain on the pulling apparatus. In actual field tests, it was foundthat this type of apparatus has a very short tool life. It willliterally break down in a matter of weeks by falling apart due to thegreat amount of force required to be intermitantly applied by theapparatus. In addition, the lengths had to be cut into a suitable sizefor handling. The lengths were cutto at most about 5- -8 feet. Thismeant that in a typical block, about separate pulling and cutting stepswere required to completely remove the cable.

Other types of apparatus and methods have heretofore also been suggestedfor removing the cable from underground conduit and for recovering thecable from the overhead lines. However, these apparatuses at best onlyserve the function of facilitating the installation of the new cables inthat the cash value of the scrap cable was generally considerably offsetby the amount of labor required to recover the cable.

It is accordingly a primary object of this invention to overcome theaforementioned problems and disadvantages of the apparatuses and methodsheretofore utilized for the recovery of underground and overhead cables.

It is another object of this invention to provide an apparatus forrecovering overhead and underground cable which can be operated in anefficient manner so as to facilitate the salvage and recovery of themaximum scrap value of the recovered cable.

It is still further an object of this invention to provide an apparatuswhich is useful for recovering scrap cable in a form which can bereadily hauled away for the purposes of salvage.

It is still a further object of this invention to provide an apparatusfor both recovering scrap underground cable and assisting in theinstallation of new cables in underground conduits.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become furtherapparent hereinafter, in the drawings and from the reading of thesubjoined claims.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The objects of the invention have been achievedby providing an apparatus wherein the cable to be recovered is initiallyguided up a guide ramp to a puller means. The puller means gripssubstantially the entire circumference of the cable with teeth which diginto and grip the cable. The puller can draw the cable either from anunderground conduit, or an overhead installation in a continuous manner.The cable is cut into predetermined lengths as the cable issimultaneousely continuously being drawn by the puller means. The cutlengths of cable, suitable for use in a smelter are then hauled away.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration inpartial cross section of the preferred embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 1a is a schematic illustration of the flow of cable as it is fedthrough, and cut by the apparatus of FIG. 1.

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of an alternate embodiment of theapparatus of this invention.

FIG. 2a is a schematic illustration of the flow of cable as it is fedthrough and cut by the apparatus of FIG. 2.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of the adjustable cable guiding means of FIG.1 taken as illustrated by the lines and arrows 33 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional illustration of the cable guiding meanstaken as illustrated by the lines and arrows 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional illustration of the cable puller means ofthe apparatus of FIG. 1 taken as indicated by the lines and arrows 5-5of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is an illustration in cross section of one of the driving unitsof the cable pulling means taken as indicated by the lines and arrows 66of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a top plan view in partial cross section of the cable cuttingmeans taken as indicated by the lines and arrows 7--7 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 is an illustration of the cable cutting means in partial crosssection taken as indicated by the lines and arrows 88 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a cross sectional illustration of the means of the apparatusof FIG. 1.

FIG. 9a is an illustration in partial cross section of the slats of theconveyor means taken as indicated by the lines and arrows 9a.-9a.

FIG. 10 is a schematic illustration of an alternate embodiment of thecable pulling'means which can be utilized with the apparatus of thisinvention.

conveyor DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The preferredapparatus of this invention 11, is shown in FIG. 1. The apparatus 11 isillustrated positioned on a solid surface, for example, a street 12. Therearward portion of the apparatus is shown positioned over a manhole 13from which a cable 14 is being removed. The cable 14 is fed through theapparatus 11 as illustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. la. The cable is cut intoshort lengths 15 which are conveniently dumped into a vehicle such as adump truck or trailer. When the vehicle is filled, it is taken to asmelter for recovery of the metals such as copper and lead whichcomprise the cable. The apparatus of this invention 11 is mobile, beingreadily moveable from location to location and is preferablyself-propelled.

The apparatus 11 consists of mobile platform 16 which as illustrated ispreferably a heavy duty truck having a relatively short wheel base. Itshould be appreciated, however, that the mobile platform 16 of theapparatus 11 can also be a trailer which can be towed from place toplace by suitable means such as a truck or the like. The mobile platform16 includes a pair of support jacks 17 which can be extended downwardlyuntil they contact a solid surface 12, for example, the street and thenused to raise the entire apparatus 11 so as to take the load off thewheels 18 of the mobile platform. The mobile platform 16 includes asupport structure 19 which is secured to the support platform 16.

The portion of the apparatus which is used for pulling and cutting thecable can be considered to consist of a plurality of integrated units.The apparatus 11 consists of a guiding means 20, a cable pulling means21, a cable cutting means 22, and a conveyor means 23. A supplementalpiece of equipment which is highly useful in the initial start-up of theapparatus is a winch 24 which is positioned on the mobile platform 16 toassist the initial lead in of the cable 14 from the manhole 13. Each ofthe units 20, 21, 22 and 23 of this apparatus 11 are synchronized so asto provide continuous feed and intermittant cutting of the cable as itis recovered. The cable 14 after it is cut into suitable lengths, ishauled away as noted above by a separate vehicle.

In order to further illustrate the subject invention each of theseparate units comprising the apparatus 11 of this invention, will bediscussed in detail. It should be appreciated however, that theinvention resides in the total combination of elements which cooperatetogether.

The guiding means 20 which is shown in FIG. 3 consists of a guide ramp25 which may be moved in an arcuate direction either the left or rightas shown in phantorn in FIG. 3. The guide ramp is moved by the worm andrack assembly 26 which is rotated by the handle 27. Once the guidingramp 25 is in the desired position, it is held in place by the locklever 28. The guide ramp consists of a number of rollers which are of adouble conical configuration which guides the cable 14 along the centerof the guide ramp 25. There is a number of lower guide rollers 30 whichare used to guide the cable when it is recovered from below theapparatus as for example, a manhole. In addition to the lower guiderollers there is an upper guide roller 31 which is utilized whenrecovering cable from overhead installations. The cable, whetherrecovered from a manhole or from an overhead-supply, is guided at thetop of the guide ramp 25 through an aperture 32 provided in the forwardsection of the guiding means.

One of the most important sections of the apparatus of this invention isthe cable pulling means 21. As shown in the preferred embodiment, thisconsists of four separate driving units which are positionedcircumferentially about the cable 14 being fed so as to grip as much ofthe circumference of the cable as possible, and advance it. It should benoticed that in the embodiment of FIG. 5, that four bevel gears 33 arepositioned about the cable. Each bevel gear is moveable inwardly oroutwardly so as to adjust the spacing between the bevel gears 33 so asto securely grip a given size cable. The position of the bevel gears 33is adjusted relative to the diameter of the cable 14 being pulled so asto grip the cable 14 with the teeth 34 of the bevel gear dug into thecable to firmly grip the cable but not enough to rupture the cable 14.Each of the bevel gears 33 in addition to being forced into the cableare also driven so as to positively advance the cable 14, forwardlytowards the cutter means 22. It is highly impor tant in accordance withthis invention that the cable be driven by all of the bevel gears 33 inorder to balance the amount of force required to continuously pull therelatively heavy weight of cable through the apparatus of this invention11.

As shown in FIG. 5 each of the bevel gear units are identical except fortheir relative position about the cable. The driving means 35 asillustrated in FIG. 6 is comprised of the bevel gear 33 into which teeth34 are cut. The bevel gear 33 is secured to the shaft 36 by means of anut 37 so as to move in direct response to movement of the shaft 36. Theshaft 36 at the opposite end has a plurality of splines 38 about itsentire circumference. These splines 38 are engaged with mating splinedhub portions of a worm gear 39 so that when the worm gear 39 is ,driven,the shaft 36 is likewise driven which in turn rotates the bevel gear 33.Because of the splines 38 on the terminal end of the shaft 36, the shaftcan move inwardly or outwardly with respect to the worm gear 39. Asnoted above, it is the rotation of the worm gear 39 in combination withthe splined shaft 36 which causes the bevel gear 33 to rotate and drivethe cable 14 forwardly through the apparatus of this invention.

It should be appreciated, however, that the size of the cable beingrecovered can vary considerably. Accordingly, in order to compensate forvariations in the diameter of the cable, a second means is providedwithin each of the driving units 35 in order to either advance orretract the bevel gear 36 toward the cable being pulled. This meansconsists of a quill 40 which has a key 41 and its forward end whichprevents rotational movement with regard to the housing 42. At theopposite end, there is an acme thread 43 which is engaged with a drivenworm gear 44. Driving the gear 44 causes the quill to either advancetowards the bevel gear 33, or move rearwardly towards the splined end ofthe shaft 36. Depending on the relative position of the quill, thespacing between each of the bevel gears 33 of the cable puller means 21is either enlarged or decreased. It should be noted that the quillforces the bevel gear forwardly into the cable. A thrust bearing 45 ispositioned between the bevel gear and the quill in order to take theload of the quill to the bevel gear.

As can be seen in FIG. 5 there are two separate drive chains in thecable pulling apparatus 11 of this invention. A first drive chain 46drives the worm gear 44 in engagement with the acme thread on the quill40. This causes the bevel gears 33 to either advance or to retract inaccordance to the direction of movement of the chain 46. The chain 46 isdriven by a first motor 47. The second drive chain 48 drives the mainworm gear 39 which in turn rotates the bevel gears 33 causing the cableto be advanced. This chain is driven by a second motor 49. Thearrangement of the cable puller means 21 shown in FIG. 5 is unique withregard to its ability to adjust to various sizes of cable and to varythe rate of speed to the apparatus. As quite obvious from the abovedescription, the first drive chain 46 moves each of the bevel gears intoa predetermined position which is dictated by the relative diameter ofthe cable being recovered. Since each of the drive units 35 positionedabout the cable are identical in configuration, and are synchronized soas to advance the cable at a predetermined rate, it can be seen that awide variation of different cable sizes can readily be accomplished byactivating the motor 47 which controls the relative position of thebevel gears to each other and to the cable being recovered. Furthermore,since each of the gears is simultaneously driven by the second motor 49it can be seen that an equal amount of force is applied about thecircumference of the cable. This is highly important with regard tocable which is weakened in that it distributes the forces over a widerarea of the cable enabling the cable to be pulled with considerablygreater ease than if one side or even two sides of the cable are engagedby the pulling means.

It should be carefully noted, however, that while the bevel geararrangement described in detail above, is the preferred embodiment ofthis invention, that the pulling apparatus of this invention is notlimited as to the use of bevel gears and that other types of apparatuscan readily be employed in the apparatus of this invention withoutdeparting from the spirit or scope of this invention. For example, byreferring to FIG. 10, can be seen an alternate embodiment which hasproven to be highly satisfactory. In this particular embodiment, fourspur gears 50 are positioned relative to each other so as to move in thepositions indicated by the arrows. Due to the relative movement of thegears, various sizes of cable can be accomodated between the spur gears.Further, since the spur gears cutinto the side of the cable at rightangles, to the direction of advancement, the optimum amount of force isapplied to the cable which causes it to more readily advance. It ishighly advantageous in utilizing this embodiment to include a sun geardrive and satellite gears, plus an inside gear in the spur gear toincrease the amount of force applied to the spur gears as they arepulling the cable 14.

As the cable 14 is recovered by the cable pulley means from the manholeor recovered from an overhead cable line, in order to achieve theobjects of this invention, it is necessary that the cable be cut intopredetermined lengths so as to be easily removed by the dump truck orthe like as shown in FIG. 1. As was pointed out above, it is importantthat once the cable is moved, that the momentum of the cable 14 not beinterrupted in order to achieve the maximum utilization of energy and tomaintain the machine in good operative order. Accordingly, in theapparatus of this invention the driving means once started continuouslyruns the feeding cable 14 to the cable cutting means 22. The cablecutting means as illustrated is basically of the guillotine type. Theapparatus consists of a pair of hydraulic cylinders 51 and 52 which arepositioned in opposing relationship to each other. Attached to the endsof the hydraulic cylinders are mating guillotine blades 53 and 54, whichare positioned so when in the open position, the cable will readily feedthrough the opening 55 between the blades. However, when the blades areclosed there is a slight overlap and the cable 14 is completely severed.The cable cutting means 22 is mounted on a pair of guide rods 55, 56, sothat when the guillotine cutting means is advanced in a forwardlydirection it is guided in the same direction of travel as the cablebeing fed by the cable pulling means. A return hydraulic cylinder 57 ispositioned so as to operate in the opposite direction to the directionof advancement of the cable. The hydraulic cylinder 57 is positioned soas to return the guillotine cutting means 52 from the position indicatedin phantom on FIG. 7 to the position indicated in full in FIG. 7.- Thecable 14 enters the guillotine and the cylinders 51 and 52 areactivated. The blade 53 and 54 advance towards the cable passing throughthe aperture 55 of the guillotine. As soon as the blades 51, 52 engagecable 14 they start to cut the cable. The cable cutting apparatus 22travels along with the cable as the guillotine blades are cutting thecable. As soon as the cable is cut, for example, the hydraulic cylinders51 are then automatically released and draw back the guillotine blades.The return hydraulic cylinder 57 is then activated and returns theguillotine assembly to the starting position shown in full in FIG. 7. Inthis position it is again ready to engage and cut another length ofcable which is continuously being fed by the cable pulling means 21.

It should readily be appreciated that while the guillotine cutting meanswhich is illustrated, is the preferred embodiment of this invention,that the other types of apparatus can likewise be employed in theapparatus of the present invention. For example, it would also befeasible to utilize a traveling radial saw to cut the cable, or in thealternative, to use an apparatus similar to scissors to shear the cableinto sections. The important thing in this particular apparatus is thatthe cable is cut on the move as it is being continuously removed fromthe conduit.

Once the cable is cut into lengths, it is removed by means of a conveyormeans 23. The conveyor means 23 is of relatively conventional design. Itconsists of drive chains 58 which are driven by a motor 59. Positionedbetween and attached to the chains 58 on each side of the conveyor is aplurality of slats 60 which have upwardly extending lips 61 which areadapted to engage the cable, particularly in the grooves caused by thegear pulling means. The conveyor belt for the purposes of safetyincludes side members 62 on each side of the conveyor. The cable isadvanced to a guide ramp from which it is dumped into a suitable vehiclefor removing the salvaged scrap cable to the smelter.

In the apparatus of this invention 11 there is further included a winch24 mentioned above. This winch 24 serves several useful purposes whenemploying the apparatus of the present invention, as will be explainedin greater detail below. The winch is of relatively conventional design,preferably being motor driven.

In operation, the apparatus of this invention 11, is moved to a positionwherein the guide means is approximately aligned with an area from whichthe cable be appreciated, however, that in certain situations, themanhole will either be very close to the curb or possibly on thesidewalk, or extended a considerable distance into the street whereuponit is necessary utilizing the adjustment means of the cable guidingmeans, to swing the guide ramp 25 into the appropriate position so as tohave as direct a draw as possible of the cable from the manhole 13. Q

If there is a sufficient length of cable in the manhole the cable cansimply be led directly into the cable puller means. However, undernormal circumstances, it is generally necessary to initially draw thecable 14 to the cable puller means 21 by the winch 24. In this procedurethe truck is backed up over the manhole as noted above, and the cableguiding means is adjusted to the proper angle. The support jacks 17 areraised so as to take the weight off the wheels of the vehicle. The leadline from the winch 24 is then attached to an end of the cable 14 andthe cable 14 is gradually worked up the guiding means in theconventional manner heretofore employed until the end of the cable isengaged by the puller means.

The bevel gears are retracted and a lead portion of the cable goesforwardly through the opened cable pulling means. Then the bevel gearsare tightened down onto the cable. The amount of tightening required inorder to get the maximum utilization from the apparatus of thisinvention 11 will vary depending upon the particular type of cable beingpulled. For example, if an armored cable is being pulled, the gear teethshould advantageously be dug into the cable an amount sufficient to havethe teeth of the bevel gears inbedded into the outer core enough tocontact but not rupture the strands of the cable. Then all of the gearsare advanced so as to pull the cable forwardly from the manhole. Thecable, once it is fed through the cable advancing means is engaged bythe guillotine cutting means. The hydraulic cylinders 51,52 areactivated and the blades move inwardly until they contact the cable andpress inwardly and grip the cable and as they continually cut throughthe cable. The guillotine cutting means is carried forwardly by thecable as it is advanced by the cable pulling means. The amount of forceapplied by the cylinders of the guillotine cutting means are regulatedso that the cutting is complete before the guillotine reaches the end ofits cycle. The pressure is released from the guillotine blades, and theblades 53,54 are retracted. The guillotine is then retracted to thestarting position and by the return hydraulic cylinder 57, and cutsanother predetermined length of cable. The method of cutting the cablecan best be seen in FIG. la. The cable is advanced over the guidingmeans and then is gripped by the cutting means. It is then cut intopredetermined lengths by the cutting means and dropped into a suitablevehicle such as a dump truck or other receptacles.

The apparatus of this invention is especially useful in recoveringabandoned cables and also for removing cable from the conduit for thepurpose of putting in new cables. It should be appreciated, however,that the use of this invention is not limited to the above mentionedtechniques, but has broader applicabilities than is to be removed, asfor example, a manhole. It should that noted above. For example, it canbe readily used to recover overhead cable, as was shown in phantom inFIG. 1 by the dotted cable line.

In addition, it should be appreciated that the apparatus of thisinvention can be used to both pull the old cable from the conduit, andlikewise also pull in new cable at the same time. It should beappreciated for example, that the pulling means illustrated in FIG. canapply at least 30,000 pounds of pressure to the cable being processed.Accordingly, the old cable in the conduit can be removed and the newcable attached to the terminal end of the old cable and pulled into theconduit by the old cable from the opposite end. In this manner, the oldcable acts as a guide and leads the new cable through the conduit as theold cable is removed.

It should be further appreciated that the apparatus of this invention isnot limited to the specific embodiment shown in the aforementionedillustration. Various modifications can be made without departing fromthe spirit or scope of this invention. As noted above, for example, inFIG. the bevel gears as illustrated in the preferred embodiment can bereplaced with conventional spur gears and still obtain a highlysatisfactory apparatus. Furthermore, as noted above, other types ofcutting means can be employed to cut the cable into predeterminedlengths. It should be further noted that certain items of this apparatuscan readily be removed without departing from the spirit and scope ofthis invention. For example, as shown in FIG. 2 it is possible and tosome extent highly advantageous, to utilize an apparatus in which thecable guiding means and the cable pulling means are essentiallyidentical to those of FIG. 1. However, the conveyor is eliminated bysimply allowing the cable to be pushed by the cable puller through along tubular member 63 with the guillotine cutting means beingpositioned at the terminal end of the tubular member. The operation ofthis apparatus is most clearly seen in FIG. 2a wherein the length ofcables is supported by its own column strength up to the terminal end ofthe tubular member and then is cut into the predetermined lengthdesired.

The apparatus of FIG. 1 is generally preferred in that it has widerapplicability and can be used with almost all types of cable generallyfound in electrical systems. It has the disadvantage over the embodimentof FIG. 2 in that it requires additional moving parts namely theconveyor belt, in order to move the cut cable from the cutting means tothe dump means. However, it has the advantage as noted above that it canbe used on a wide variety of cables, including the rather heavyweightarmor shield cable as well as the more difficult to handle bundle ofcables. The apparatus of FIG. 2 is especially useful for recovering theheavy armored cable since armored cable has considerable columnstrength, and can readily be pushed by the cable puller means. A furtherdisadvantage of the apparatus as disclosed in FIG. 2 is that the cablepulling means must both pull the cable from the manhole and also pushthe cable up the tubular member to the cutting means. This means thatthe puller means is required to do extra work. Much of this work isrelieved by the use of the conveyor belt as shown in FIG. 1 since theconveyor belt carries the cut cable to the truck for purposes ofremoval.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for salvaging electrical cable from underground and/oroverhead installations, said apparatus comprising, in combination;

a. a mobile platfonn having forward and rearward ends;

b. cable-guide means positioned on said platform adjacent the rearwardend thereof, said guide means having an aperture in its forward portionand means for guiding said cable through said aperture;

c. cable-pulling means mounted on said platform immediately forward ofsaid cable-guide means;

said cable-pulling means including a group of power driven assemblieseach including a laterallyextending shaft having a bevel gear at theinward end thereof and a splined portion at the outward end thereof,said shafts being so positioned as to cause said bevel gears to form anaperture in line with the aperture in said cable-guide means, each ofsaid bevel gears when rotated about the axis of its shaft causing itsteeth to engage, penetrate and grip a cable in its aperture;

e. means for adjusting the positions of said bevel gears relative toeach other, thereby to adjust the size of the formed aperture, therebyto accomodate to cables of different diameters, said adjusting meansincluding a non-rotatable sleeve in which each gear shaft is rotatablymounted, and power drive means, including a rotatable nut engaging saidsleeve, to more said sleeve in its axial direction;

f. cable-cutting means mounted on said platform forwardly of, and inalignment with, said cable-pulling means; and

g. means for withdrawing said cable-cutting means from the cable pathand for returning said cutting means to a rearward position.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said power driven assembliesinclude at least four such assemblies spaced equally about said-formedaperture in said cable-pulling means for gripping and advancing saidcable through said cable-pulling means.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said bevel gears are drivenrotatably by a common drive means, and the positions of said bevel gearsare adjusted by common adjustment means.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein conveyor means is providedforwardly of said cable-cutting means and in alignment therewith forconveying cut lengths of cable forwardly.

5. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said cable-cutting meansincludes:

a. a pair of opposing guillotine blades;

b. a pair of opposing hydraulic cylinders each having a piston attachedto one of said blades for advancing said blades toward each other andfor withdrawing said blades;

c. means for advancing said blades and cylinders in the same directionof travel as said cable during the cutting operation and for thereafterretracting said blades and cylinders in the opposite direction. i

1. Apparatus for salvaging electrical cable from underground and/oroverhead installations, said apparatus comprising, in combination; a. amobile platform having forward and rearward ends; b. cable-guide meanspositioned on said platform adjacent the rearward end thereof, saidguide means having an aperture in its forward portion and means forguiding said cable through said aperture; c. cable-pulling means mountedon said platform immediately forward of said cable-guide means; d. saidcable-pulling means including a group of power driven assemblies eachincluding a laterally-extending shaft having a bevel gear at the inwardend thereof and a splined portion at the outward end thereof, saidshafts being so positioned as to cause said bevel gears to form anaperture in line with the aperture in said cable-guide means, each ofsaid bevel gears when rotated about the axis of its shaft causing itsteeth to engage, penetrate and grip a cable in its aperture; e. meansfor adjusting the positions of said bevel gears relative to each other,thereby to adjust the size of the formed aperture, thereby to accomodateto cables of different diameters, said adjusting means including anon-rotatable sleeve in which each gear shaft is rotatably mounted, andpower drive means, including a rotatable nut engaging said sleeve, tomore said sleeve in its axial direction; f. cable-cutting means mountedon said platform forwardly of, and in alignment with, said cable-pullingmeans; and g. means for withdrawing said cable-cutting means from thecable path and for returning said cutting means to a rearward position.2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said power driven assembliesinclude at least four such assemblies spaced equally about said formedaperture in said cable-pulling means for gripping and advancing saidcable through said cable--pulling means.
 3. Apparatus according to claim2 wherein said bevel gears are driven rotatably by a common drive means,and the positions of said bevel gears are adjusted by common adjustmentmeans.
 4. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein conveyor means isprovided forwardly of said cable-cutting means and in alignmenttherewith for conveying cut lengths of cable forwardly.
 5. Apparatusaccording to claim 3 wherein said cable-cutting means includes: a. apair of opposing guillotine blades; b. a pair of opposing hydrauliccylinders each having a piston attached to one of said blades foradvancing said blades toward each other and for withdrawing said blades;c. means for advancing said blades and cylinders in the same directionof travel as said cable during the cutting operation and for thereafterretracting said blades and cylinders in the opposite direction.